Julia Gillard seeks to set the record straight with memoir as American journalist gets her name wrong in interview

JULIA Gillard gives first screen interview since leaving power — to host who gets her name wrong. WATCH HERE.

MANY Australian journalists would have done anything to snag Julia Gillard’s first screen interview since leaving power.

But the win went to an American interviewer — who got her name wrong.

The slip came as the ex-prime minister was interviewed about her plans for the future at a conference in New York.

At the start of the talk, broadcast on Laureate International Universities’ YouTube channel, interviewer Steve Gray introduced her as “Julia Gillee-ard”.

The former PM graciously ignored the bungle before going on to answer a series of questions about her time in power and plans to campaign for empowerment of women and girls in the future.

‘’I’m looking forward to doing some international travel and pursing internationally the causes I’ve been so passionate about locally in Australia, particularly education and empowerment for women and girls,’’ she said.

The video emerged as Ms Gillard revealed her plans to set the record straight on her political career “in my own words” with a memoir to be published within a year.

Random House Australia today announced the former prime minister’s memoir will hit shelves in October 2014.

In a statement Ms Gillard said she was “very excited” to be able to set the record straight and detail her political journey.

honorary professor

Very proud my book announced by Random House. Great team. I'm writing steadily and publish later next year! http://t.co/9TGudriYNV JG

— Julia Gillard (@JuliaGillard) September 25, 2013

“I am very excited at having this opportunity to use my own words to describe my political and personal journey,” Ms Gillard, who knifed Kevin Rudd to secure the prime ministership in 2010 and then suffered the same fate this year, said.

“I want to distil for readers what I achieved; what drove me, where I erred; my personal resilience and how I coped. I want to share my perspective on the issues of our times and how I strove to make a difference for the better every day I had the privilege of serving as prime minister.”

Ms Gillard, who quit politics after a failed leadership tilt this year, said her book would also detail her thoughts on “changing our nation and future challenges in the years ahead.”

She said she had thought “very deeply” about the timing of releasing the book and that she wanted to “commit it to paper whilst both emotionally and intellectually it was still fresh for me”.

“I want to weave the politics and personal story together,” Ms Gillard said.

“I also want to try and answer those questions that are so often put to me — how do you do it, how do you get up and do it every day and also why did you do it.”

Ms Gillard said she was a “very good typist” and would be writing the book herself.

She said she would be “out and about” promoting the book when it was released.

“I like being in book shops and so I am sure I will be out in book shops talking to people about the book, hopefully signing some books for some people,” Ms Gillard said.

“It will be a big public contact for me in a way that I won’t think I would have done since the days of being prime minister.”

###